TechCrunch posts the transcript of a Charlie Rose interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. In it, among other things, Schmidt talks about rumors regarding Google's potential interest in acquring Twitter and about mobile TV.

Here's what Schmidt said about Twitter:

Charlie Rose:
You also bought YouTube. You have Google news. We’re in a time now, and we’re going to talk a lot about the economy in this conversation because of the roles you have. Acquisitions come up. People are excited these days, the lost several months about Twitter. Does Google want to buy Twitter.

Eric Schmidt:
I shouldn’t talk about specific acquisitions. We’re unlikely to buy anything in the short term partly because I think prices are still high. And it’s unfortunate I think we’re in the middle of a cycle. Google is generating a lot of cash. And so we keep that cash in extremely secure banks.

Schmidt is also quite bullish on the outlook for "mobile TV":

Eric Schmidt: Well, in our case we’re building the platform that will allow the content people to do more targeted content. So you can imagine the mobile device will say, well, Eric, you watched this episode of this television show, we’ll offer you this other one. Or didn’t you forget that you already watched that episode of Charlie Rose? You should watch this other one because it’s related to the one you liked. This personal viewing experience is a fundamental thing that the Internet can do, and companies like Google can do.

People are watching more and more mobile video; whether the concept of "personalized TV" comes to fruition on mobile devices is another matter. 

When Schmidt talks about the future it's typically conceptual. He won't talk about Google's intended actions or products. He speaks generally about whether Google is seeing certain kinds of activity, etc. 

He's of course right when he speaks about the potential of mobile devices to offer customized or personalized content and programming. The context of the TV-related quote above is a discussion of the Kindle, which is itself a fascinating device and points the way to an Internet tablet distinct from current mobile smartphones. 

Schmidt's remarks about Twitter suggest that the company has considered the acquisition carefully and is evaluating how much it would take to successfully acquire it. It may not be placing as much of a value on Twitter as its investors are. Google bought two Twitter-like services (Jaiku, Zingku) and failed to develop them successfully.

Twitter is now a bona fide cultural phenomenon, however, and Google could quickly monetize its "searches" and page views. It would also preempt something that may be emerging (in the mobile context) as a partial threat to search. So we shouldn't see Schmidt's statement above as anything necessarily definitive about Google's intentions regarding Twitter. 

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Related: Analytis company Ominuture is offering monitoring of "brand activity" on Twitter. I suspect it charts mentions of brands and products on Twitter and shows up or down trends.